soap

[CowboyHippy]

so
i know we have that guy on here that makes soap

anyone else ever try?
I have been reading a bit on mother earth news and the foxfire books.
recipies look fairly simple and idiot proof.
probably end up finding a book on the subject and reading it before i venture into the experimentation stage. fat, lye, and water type stuff.

if ya have post up links that look good or maybe a tutorial?
having never made any I wouldnt know which links are good and which are pointless and over complex.

[LIBRA]

Ive always wanted to try it too. I know mother earth news has great articles on it, I will dig around for some. I have enough projects at the moment but soap making is on the list.

[Unkle_John]

We do have a soap expert who might help.

[Hippie Staff]

I would burn myself w/ the lye, being that I'm impatient...

After checking it out a bit though, I didn't realize there were so many methods..

Cold Process Method: This process is widely used by home-based soap makers. The neutralization stage takes place during the moulding stage. Our kits follow this method.

Semi-boiled Method: After the soap mixture traces, heat is added using a double-boiler to cause the soap to neutralize before being moulded.

Full-boiled Method: This method is where all ingredients are prepared in one large container. Heat is added causing neutralization. Large commercial manufacturers use this method to achieve the by-product called glycerin.

Transparent Soap: This soap is made clear by adding solvents such as alcohol to prevent crystals from forming as the soap cools. Transparent soap is often referred to as Glycerin Soap. However, this is a fallacy as glycerin is not needed to produce a clear or transparent soap. This soap can be drying to the skin.

Melt and Pour Soap: Or also known a solid Glycerin blocks. Pure glycerin, animal or vegetable derived, is always liquid and can only be solidified by the addition of plastizer chemicals. To produce a foam, detergents are added. This method is simply making soap from soap and is more expensive than starting from scratch. Melt and pour soaps may have natural ingredients added to them but they are synthetically based.

Cowboy - I assume u would be doing the cold process one - looks like the most common for all natural soaps.. ?

[CowboyHippy]

i really have no idea

i won't be ordering any books till after the first of the year, and most of the stuff i have read called for extracting your own lye and ehat that to a certain temp and then heat the fats and oils to a differnt temp then mix and a bit later it thickens, pour in the mold and let it age for a while

it really dosent bother me all that much to try it in a potentially harmful way
that whole electricity thing has given me a steady hand and calm nerves.

I would imagine that there are pros and cons to each one

[Unkle_John]

I've been tinkering with the idea to start a small soap company for local and regional applications. I have no aspire to get bigger, but it could be something to help along the way to our financial freedom and fixing our house up. We have alot of these weird country boutiques that love stuff like this. Plus my mother has connections to places in Dallas.

[CowboyHippy]

i ordered the book smart soapmaking, it seemed to have the best reviews

here is some decent Mother earth news stuff
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/1972-01-01/General-Notes-on-Soapmaking.aspx

i liked the looks of this "lye maker" which should work out pretty sweet since i heat with wood, and all my wood is hardwood from the local tree trimming place. just gotta start saving the ashes

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/1972-01-01/Soap-Making-in-the-Woods.aspx

[Hippie Staff]

Cowboy - that's wild.,,lol from the soap in the woods , except: Whatever meat scraps and drippings you have on hand will supply the fat and the lye comes from wood ashes and water.

Mmm..Meat smell. lol

[CowboyHippy]

i have hit up a couple of websites, and watched some youtube videos

the meat scraps arent so bad, not compared to the other ingredient...lye..or sodium hydroxide.....or super strength drain opener.

in foxfire volume one they save the bacon grease for soap.

it'll be interesting to see how this one goes. worst case scenario i burn down the house and my corpse isnt recognizable due to all the chemicals peeling the flesh from my skeleton

[Jennyjenkins]

Look up Glory Bee Foods on google or whatever search engine you use. They have all the details on homecrafts such as soaps, chocolates, candles, shampoos, lotions, bee hives/honey, etc; They also allow you to buy the means straight through them. They do have recipes on their website as well. Hope this helps...;)

[Jennyjenkins]

bumpity bump bump

[Hippie Staff]

Cowboy - you could always label & sell the batch..

'peeling skin soap' *

people may think it's one of those 'skin renewal' treatments. haha..suckers.


* may remove heaps of flesh too. Use sparingly.

[CowboyHippy]

takes away wrinkles, and muscle tissue......

our little clan is talking of making tie dyes to sell this summer at the local festivals. i was thinking some no contaminate, uncented uncolored soap would go over fairly well too. we just have to keep crunching numbers to see whats best.

[Hippie Staff]

Cowboy - How's the Soap endeavor?

[CowboyHippy]

looking to peel our flesh on or around the middle of march. managed to locate an actual ph meter instead of test strips to tell when the ph has reduced itself to a proper level. it's bus for the next few weeks.

[LIBRA]

HA HA HA!! I love exfoliating soaps, so let me know how much skin this actually removes, I bet it melts off fat too :D Ick!!

[whitewolf]

So, how did the soap making go? Any words of wisdom for those of us considering making soap?

[PrettyHippy]

I love making soap! I make the cold-process soap and my Mom makes the hot-process soap. They both make great soap and it's just sort of a preferance thing as to which one you decide on. I just made a batch of Lemongrass last week. I'm going to be making a batch of Peppermint soap and some Violet soap once the violets are dried. We live in an area where little purple violets grow wild so we pick them right from around the farm. I can try to answer any questions that I can! Making your own soap is a lot of fun. I have a good recipe and a really good website based company you can get basically all your supplies from. They are really high in the quality department. They have a very good selection of essential oil fragrances too. Let me know if I can help!!

Pretty :hippie: